BAE Systems, Australia, has unveiled a fascinating new autonomous, hybrid, VTOL UAV for navy use. The STRIX, developed in Australia, folds to suit inside a transport container, and is able to carrying 160 kg (353 lb) of payload over 800 km (500 miles). The STRIX was unveiled at Australia’s latest Avalon Air Show, in entrance of air power chiefs from round the world – with the notable exceptions, according to ABC News, of Russian and Chinese delegates, who had been excluded from the convention.
BAE Systems has developed the plane along with Perth-based Innovaero. It describes the Strix as a “hybrid, tandem-wing, multi-domain and multi-role UAS,” able to performing missions together with air-to-ground strike, persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or probably serving as a “loyal wingman” – model power multiplier to accompany navy helicopters. Watch a video animation of Strix here.
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